Fushigi no Kuni no Alice
is an anime adaptation of the novel ''Alice in Wonderland which ran on the Japanese network NHK from March 26, 1983 to October 10, 1984. The series was a Japanese-German coproduction between Nippon Animation and Apollo Films. The series consists of 52 episodes, however, only 26 made it to the U.S.. In the English language, this series is generally overshadowed by the success of Disney's 1951 feature film version of the story; however, the anime series was quite popular in various European countries, Israel, in Latin America, and in the Arabic-speaking world. The series was also dubbed in Hindi by the national film development board of India and telecasted on Doordarshan in the early 1990s. Overview A young girl named Alice follows a white rabbit into a hole, only to find herself in Wonderland, where she meets many interesting characters, including the mysterious Cheshire Cat and the terrible Queen of Hearts. The beginning of the series adheres more similarly to the original story, whereas later episodes adapt the sequel book of Alice in Wonderland "Through the Looking-Glass," starting with episode 26. One departure from the books is that Alice returns to the real world at the end of each episode, and goes back to Wonderland at the beginning of the next episode. These transitions between the two worlds are depicted as dream-like, and it usually takes Alice a moment to notice her surroundings have changed. Music The series uses two pieces of theme music for the original Japanese version. The Japanese opening song is called "Yumemiru Wonderland (夢みるワンダーランド Dreaming Wonderland)", and the Japanese ending song is called "NAZO NAZO yume no kuni (ナゾナゾ夢の国 Mysterious Dreamland)", both sung by the Japanese vocalist Tarako (also the voice actor for Alice). The U.S. song and the German opening song uses the same animation, but a different song for the opening credits. The songs are the same in terms of music, and only differ by the language. Episodes # Alice and Benny # Rabbit Hole # Alice in a Sea of Tears # A Caucus-Race # Big Alice # Humpty Dumpty # An Enormous Puppy # Nameless Forest # Crow Pirate # Advice from a Caterpillar # Bald Alice # A Shocking Baby # Mock Turtle # Tweedledum and Tweedledee # The Lion vs. the Unicorn # The Queen's Croquet Ground # Cheshire Cat # Dash of the Snails # The Lobster-Quadrille # A Mad Tea Party # Lovely Circus Land # Jack the Gourmand # Handstand Race # Benny's Disappearance # The Secret of Greeland # Alice and the Looking-Glass # The Exursion of the Heart Queen # The Shy Duck # Big Washing day # Dream Sheep # Just the Dawsons # The White Rabbit Moves # Strange Tour Operator # Benny and the Screw Mouse # Weather Man and Weather Woman # The Angry Kangaroos # The Balloon Trip # The Clouds Country # An Unpleasant Guest # The Small Flutist # The Honey Elephants # Little Bill has Fallen In Love # Pearl of Wisdom # (Untranslated title) # Family Photo # Magic Drink # Vanished Light Fairy # Many Colored Candles # Non-Birthday # The Chimpanzee's Child # The Battle of the Knights # Queen Alice Characters *'Alice' (アリス Arisu) voiced by TARAKO: In contrast to her novel counterpart, she is depicted with red hair instead of blonde, a hat, and a red and white dress similar in design to her Disney counterpart's blue and white dress. She appears younger due to her anime design (as this is the same case with Dorothy's anime depiction in the anime adaptation of the Wizard of Oz) *'Benny Bunny' (ベニー): Alice's rabbit companion in her adventures throughout Wonderland. Found when Alice buys a magic hat in an old shop, Benny turns out to be the nephew of the White Rabbit, so he gets along fairly well with most of the Wonderlanders. He is always uncomfortable whenever they have to go to the Jabberwocky though, as the dragon is set on making rabbit stew out of him. *'Chester' (チェシャキャット Cheshire) : The mischievous, mysterious, striped cat that gets Alice into trouble. Unlike the Disney version, the Cheshire Cat is striped orange and yellow-orange, instead of purple and light-purple. He also gladly helps out Alice, although usually cryptically. *'The Queen of Hearts' (ハートの女王) : The usual instigator of the current adventure's problem, the Queen shares the same rubenesque figure of her Disney counterpart. She wears a yellow dress and has a sloping, pointed nose, a contrast to her counterpart's flatish face and red and black gown. Another difference that separates her from most other depictions of the character is that she is the most human out of all of them; she can be reasoned with, and while she does threaten with beheadings, she usually only sends offenders to the dungeon for a few days. *'The Jabberwocky': A moody giant dragon living in a castle, beyond the forest. A loner of sorts, he doesn't like visitors that much and usually keeps to himself. Now and then he seems vaguely bent on cooking Alice's rabbit companion Benny Bunny. But he is in the end more grumpy than dangerous, and seems good-natured all in all. Sometimes ends up helping Alice with her troubles. *'The Caterpillar' (キャタピラ): Ostensibly the wisest out of all of the Wonderlanders, the Caterpillar can also be considered the sanest or most normal real-world-wise. Usually found in an area filled with mushrooms, the Caterpillar smokes from his hooka while listening to the different woes of the Wonderlanders. Alice usually comes to him for advice, which has developed into the two of them having a close friendship. *'White King and Queen' *'Tweedle Dee & Tweedle Dum' *'Duchess' *'Walrus' *'Humpdy Dumpdy' *'Mad Hatter' *'March Hare' *'Dormouse' *'Dodo' *'Mock Turtle' External links * * Category:1983 Japanese television series debuts Category:1984 Japanese television series endings Category:Anime based on Alice in Wonderland Category:Anime series Category:Fantasy anime and manga Category:Anime of 1983 Category:Japanese television series de:Alice im Wunderland (Anime) es:Alicia en el país de las maravillas (anime) fr:Alice au pays des merveilles (série télévisée d'animation) it:Alice nel Paese delle Meraviglie (anime) he:עליסה בארץ הפלאות (אנימה) ja:ふしぎの国のアリス (テレビアニメ) pl:Alicja w Krainie Czarów (serial animowany)